**note: Upstairs will not have a fall session this time around. If you would like to receive updates of our future session you can register under the registration tab to the left.
Upstairs at 83 Hester is a weekly children’s art program that takes a process-oriented approach to art making. The classes introduce participants to ways of seeing, sensing, thinking, and making that are explored through the arts. Together we will collaborate on projects, encounter works by contemporary artists, and learn new vocabularies. Guest artists whose work relates to our course theme will visit to co-teach lessons.
What Motivates Us
Our program is motivated by reflection on our experiences as artists, art students, and art teachers. When we were kids we were taught that art was painting, drawing, and sculpture but it’s evident that art doesn’t only exist in these traditional mediums. Over the past century art has expanded its reach across disciplinary boundaries and materials, creating a situation in which artists often find themselves working in a wide variety of mediums and contexts in order to follow the path of an investigation. At the same time we feel that children's arts education can and should extend beyond the limits of the production-consumption cycle in order to take into account all varieties of aesthetic experience.
In keeping with this, our sessions are primarily process oriented and seek to playfully explore the space of the intertwining of receptivity and creativity that makes up an artistic practice. As a guiding principle we feel that it is important for art educators to pay attention to the total art learning context. We are building a program that considers the fact that the room we sit in, the people we talk to, and the materials we use all in their own ways have an influence on our artistic process.
Upstairs is one of the many projects that are part of CAGE - www.cage83.com
Cage is a conglomeration of collective and individualized projects. These projects have a variety of manifestations, from lectures, performances, meetings and children's art sessions. Cage's location at 83 Hester Street is the physical component to a series of social interactions between individuals in and outside of the artist's role in which anonymity and publicity are in constant negotiation.
Teacher bios
Cage is a conglomeration of collective and individualized projects. These projects have a variety of manifestations, from lectures, performances, meetings and children's art sessions. Cage's location at 83 Hester Street is the physical component to a series of social interactions between individuals in and outside of the artist's role in which anonymity and publicity are in constant negotiation.
Teacher bios
Founding members
Shay Arick, Aaron Berman, Luca Fittipaldi, Joana Fittipaldi, Julia Moore, Carolina Jacob Ramos
Shay Arick (b. 1979 Kfar-Saba, Israel) lives and works in San Francisco. Arick is a graduate candidate of the MFA program in San Francisco Art Institute. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Winner of the Murphy Cadogan Contemporary Arts Award, the International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Award, the Eileen Cooper Award For Creativity and the America-Israel Award For Excellence In Sculpture.
Aaron Berman (b. 1989 Denver, CO) studied Philosophy and Art Theory at NYU Gallatin and is currently pursuing an MA in Contemporary European Philosophy at the CRMEP - Kingston. In addition to his work at Upstairs he has been a summer camp counselor and private tutor. He likes to work in collage, sculpture, and video.
Joana Fittipaldi (b. 1987 Miami, FL, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil) received a BFA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts, New York. She co-founded the Things Spaces Salon, a monthly event that serves as a platform for artists to present and develop their work. She has taught at Gallery North's children's art program called ArtVentures, and at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Luca Fittipaldi (b. 1991 Miami, FL, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil) is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts as a Visual and Critical Studies student as the School of Visual Arts. From an early age he began explorations of the graphic line which lead him to painting and experimentation with sound. He also attends the Art Student League in New York.
Julia Moore (b. Long Island, NY) is a partner/ teacher at a children's rights advocacy program, The Planet in Sausalito, California. Julia's art focuses on collaborative play, recording through making, and art as gift giving as opposed to monetary marketability. She worked with special needs children at Eastern Suffolk BOCES. She is currently working on a project that focuses on reconsidering classrooms and community spaces, in an attempt to reach more collective and better understanding of the world we live in and our relationships within it. Julia has a BFA from The School of Visual Arts.
Carolina Jacobs Ramos (b. 1988 Sao Paulo, Brazil) is an interdisciplinary artist, currently living and working in Pittsburgh, PA. Interested in impalpable biological and social processes, Carolina interprets and imagines living interactions. She currently works at UnSmoke Systems in Braddock, PA and towards a Masters in Social Work with a specialization in mental health. Carolina is also a part time youth art instructor at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Assistant Teachers:
Martina Franchini (b. 1988 São Paulo, Brazil) currently lives and works in New York City. After getting a degree in Writing and Directing in film from LA Film School, Franchini went into the theatre and did an acting conservatory at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She then joined "The Group" a theatre company in Los Angeles where she worked professionally in the theatre for four years. While working in theatre, she started studying psychology and moved to New York City to finish her second degree at The New School. Franchini works as an Art Advisor for Tizianos Art as well as the art director of Kreëmart.
Marina Masic (b. 1981 White Plaine, NY) has worked as an artist and educator for over ten years. She has helped to facilitate several arts programs: The Neuberger Museum, SUNY Purchase Young Artists Program, CARING at Columbia University, Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, Waldorf school initiatives, etc. She received a Masters in Art Therapy from NYU and her doctorate from The European Graduate School in Philosophy, Media and Communications. She has taught at the early childhood grades and college level and integrates philosophies to meet the individual in the artistic process.
Shay Arick, Aaron Berman, Luca Fittipaldi, Joana Fittipaldi, Julia Moore, Carolina Jacob Ramos
Shay Arick (b. 1979 Kfar-Saba, Israel) lives and works in San Francisco. Arick is a graduate candidate of the MFA program in San Francisco Art Institute. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Winner of the Murphy Cadogan Contemporary Arts Award, the International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Award, the Eileen Cooper Award For Creativity and the America-Israel Award For Excellence In Sculpture.
Aaron Berman (b. 1989 Denver, CO) studied Philosophy and Art Theory at NYU Gallatin and is currently pursuing an MA in Contemporary European Philosophy at the CRMEP - Kingston. In addition to his work at Upstairs he has been a summer camp counselor and private tutor. He likes to work in collage, sculpture, and video.
Joana Fittipaldi (b. 1987 Miami, FL, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil) received a BFA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts, New York. She co-founded the Things Spaces Salon, a monthly event that serves as a platform for artists to present and develop their work. She has taught at Gallery North's children's art program called ArtVentures, and at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Luca Fittipaldi (b. 1991 Miami, FL, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil) is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts as a Visual and Critical Studies student as the School of Visual Arts. From an early age he began explorations of the graphic line which lead him to painting and experimentation with sound. He also attends the Art Student League in New York.
Julia Moore (b. Long Island, NY) is a partner/ teacher at a children's rights advocacy program, The Planet in Sausalito, California. Julia's art focuses on collaborative play, recording through making, and art as gift giving as opposed to monetary marketability. She worked with special needs children at Eastern Suffolk BOCES. She is currently working on a project that focuses on reconsidering classrooms and community spaces, in an attempt to reach more collective and better understanding of the world we live in and our relationships within it. Julia has a BFA from The School of Visual Arts.
Carolina Jacobs Ramos (b. 1988 Sao Paulo, Brazil) is an interdisciplinary artist, currently living and working in Pittsburgh, PA. Interested in impalpable biological and social processes, Carolina interprets and imagines living interactions. She currently works at UnSmoke Systems in Braddock, PA and towards a Masters in Social Work with a specialization in mental health. Carolina is also a part time youth art instructor at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Assistant Teachers:
Martina Franchini (b. 1988 São Paulo, Brazil) currently lives and works in New York City. After getting a degree in Writing and Directing in film from LA Film School, Franchini went into the theatre and did an acting conservatory at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She then joined "The Group" a theatre company in Los Angeles where she worked professionally in the theatre for four years. While working in theatre, she started studying psychology and moved to New York City to finish her second degree at The New School. Franchini works as an Art Advisor for Tizianos Art as well as the art director of Kreëmart.
Marina Masic (b. 1981 White Plaine, NY) has worked as an artist and educator for over ten years. She has helped to facilitate several arts programs: The Neuberger Museum, SUNY Purchase Young Artists Program, CARING at Columbia University, Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, Waldorf school initiatives, etc. She received a Masters in Art Therapy from NYU and her doctorate from The European Graduate School in Philosophy, Media and Communications. She has taught at the early childhood grades and college level and integrates philosophies to meet the individual in the artistic process.